Team NZ to fix black boats for regatta

By JULIE ASH

Team New Zealand will compete in an international regatta next year with the black boats that failed so miserably in the America's Cup.

Beaten 5-0 by Alinghi, Team New Zealand were let down by their race boat, NZL82, after it broke down in two of the five races.

Team New Zealand's managing director, Grant Dalton, said an independent study was about to be conducted into why NZL81 and NZL82 failed.

Once it had been established what was wrong with the boats, they would be repaired and Dalton hoped to have them back out on the Hauraki Gulf by February.

"There is no point going sailing in them now. They will sink," Dalton said.

"We need to find out what went wrong with them, whether it was engineering, the way they were built, the materials or all of the above.

"When we know the answer - and we know there is an answer because the other boats didn't break - then we need to fix whatever it is."

Dalton said the study, which would take until December to complete, would be conducted by labs and outside computer modelling experts.

Alinghi are planning a series of regattas to seed the challengers leading up to the next cup and if Team New Zealand manage to find the estimated $150 million needed to mount a challenge they will need reliable boats as early as next year.

Syndicates will not start constructing their new boats for the 2007 cup for some time, which means 2003-generation boats will be used in the regattas in the meantime.

"We will go sailing for a short period in February after the boats are structurally sorted and checked," Dalton said.

"Then we will go to our first regatta in Newport, Rhode Island, at the end of June. We will probably take the same boat on to Europe and maybe do two regattas.

"Then we will come home and alter the boats straight away."

Team New Zealand became the talk of the yachting world during the last cup regatta when their boats were unveiled sporting revolutionary hull appendages.

However, the reliability of the boats came into question after NZL81, the team's training boat, broke down before race one and NZL82, the race boat, was forced to withdraw from two of the five races.

In race one, NZL82 nearly sank when it took on around six tonnes of water, which resulted in the boom breaking and the headsail tearing loose. In race four, the rig broke when weight-saving aluminium tip cups failed.

A review, conducted after the 5-0 loss to Alinghi, revealed NZL81, the first built boat, suffered crippling hull and deck structural damage in December before its testing programme was even completed. As a result, NZL82 had been reinforced.

It also revealed boat builder Mick Cookson had voiced concerns regarding the boats' structural strength.